Level 200: Intermediate - Architecture & Pre-Sales

Overview

Develop the ability to design solutions, plan deployments, and address customer-specific requirements for sovereign cloud architectures.

Learning Objectives

By the end of Level 200, you will be able to:

Sales & Pre-Sales Track

  • ✅ Map customer requirements to appropriate sovereign cloud models
  • ✅ Conduct TCO and ROI analysis for Azure Local deployments
  • ✅ Position solutions against competitive offerings
  • ✅ Qualify Edge RAG opportunities
  • ✅ Present complete business cases to customers

Technical Track

  • ✅ Design Sovereign Landing Zone architectures
  • ✅ Plan Azure Local deployments (connected and disconnected)
  • ✅ Understand Edge RAG deployment prerequisites
  • ✅ Architect hybrid connectivity solutions
  • ✅ Implement governance and compliance controls

Prerequisites

Before starting Level 200, ensure you have:

  • Completed Level 100 learning objectives
  • Recommended: AZ-900 (Azure Fundamentals) certification or equivalent knowledge
  • Access to an Azure subscription (for technical track)
  • Access to lab environment or Azure Local hardware for hands-on exercises

Estimated Time Commitment: 6-10 hours per week
Total Program Duration: 4-6 weeks (to complete all 3 modules)
Completed to Date: 2 of 6 planned modules (~234 KB of content)
Total Planned Hours: 21-27 hours core content + hands-on labs

Learning Modules

Module 1: Azure Local Architecture Deep Dive

Duration: 6-8 hours Status: ✅ Complete

Explore advanced Azure Local deployment patterns, hardware planning, high-availability architectures, and advanced networking scenarios for enterprise edge deployments.

Core Topics:

Module 2: Arc Advanced Management

Duration: 7-9 hours Status: ✅ Complete

Master enterprise-scale governance, cost optimization, and security hardening for Azure Arc across hybrid and multi-cloud environments.

Core Topics:

Module 3: Edge RAG Implementation

Duration: 8-10 hours Status: ✅ Complete

Master production-ready Retrieval-Augmented Generation deployment patterns, LLM optimization, vector database tuning, and operational excellence for enterprise edge deployments.

Core Topics:

Module 4: Pre-Sales & Solution Design

Duration: 5-7 hours Status: ✅ Complete

Master customer discovery, solution architecture, sizing methodologies, and business case development for sovereign cloud implementations.

Core Topics:

Module 5: Compliance & Security Patterns

Duration: 6-8 hours Status: ✅ Complete

Master regulatory compliance frameworks (GDPR, FedRAMP), encryption strategies, key management, security hardening, and incident response for sovereign cloud deployments.

Core Topics:

Module 6: Hands-On Labs

Duration: 11-16 hours Status: ✅ Complete

Five progressive hands-on labs reinforcing Modules 1-5 through practical implementation of Azure Local, Azure Arc, Edge RAG, policy governance, and monitoring in a complete sovereign cloud environment.

Lab Overview:

  1. Lab 1: Azure Local Deployment (2-3h)
    • Deploy Azure Local in connected mode with sample applications
  2. Lab 2: Azure Arc Onboarding (2-3h)
    • Register and manage resources with Arc, GitOps, extensions
  3. Lab 3: Edge RAG Setup (3-4h)
    • Complete RAG system with Weaviate, Ollama, and FastAPI
  4. Lab 4: Policy & Governance (2-3h)
    • Custom policies, Kubernetes enforcement, compliance monitoring
  5. Lab 5: Monitoring & Observability (2-3h)
    • End-to-end monitoring with Log Analytics, alerts, and dashboards

Module 6 Overview & Navigation

Essential Learning

  1. Implement Azure Landing Zones
    • Foundation for sovereign landing zones
  2. Configure Azure Arc-enabled Kubernetes
    • Essential for Azure Local management
  3. Manage hybrid workloads with Azure Arc
    • Complete learning path for hybrid scenarios

Hands-On Labs

Lab 1: Azure Local Architecture & Hardware Sizing

Objective: Plan and document an advanced Azure Local deployment scenario with proper hardware sizing

Module: Azure Local Architecture Deep Dive
Prerequisites:

  • Completion of Module 1: Azure Local Architecture Deep Dive
  • Access to Azure Local sizing tool
  • Understanding of customer requirements

Estimated Time: 2-3 hours

Topics Covered:

  • Hardware planning and capacity calculations
  • High-availability pattern design
  • Network configuration for edge scenarios

Lab 2: Arc Advanced Governance & Cost Analysis

Objective: Design an enterprise Arc governance framework with policy enforcement and cost optimization strategies

Module: Arc Advanced Management
Prerequisites:

  • Completion of Module 2: Arc Advanced Management
  • Access to an Azure subscription
  • Understanding of Azure Policy

Estimated Time: 2-3 hours

Topics Covered:

  • Azure Policy implementation at scale
  • Cost optimization strategies
  • Enterprise governance patterns

Lab 3: Edge RAG Infrastructure Preparation

Objective: Set up and optimize infrastructure for Edge RAG production deployment

Module: Edge RAG Implementation
Prerequisites:

  • Completion of Module 3: Edge RAG Implementation
  • AKS Arc cluster or ability to create one
  • Linux VM or container environment

Estimated Time: 3-4 hours

Topics Covered:

  • Vector database setup and indexing
  • LLM model deployment and optimization
  • RAG system monitoring and operations

Success Criteria

Module 1: Azure Local Architecture Deep Dive ✅

You have successfully completed Module 1 when you can:

  • ✓ Design advanced Azure Local architectures for enterprise deployments
  • ✓ Plan hardware sizing and capacity management
  • ✓ Architect high-availability patterns for edge scenarios
  • ✓ Configure advanced networking for hybrid environments
  • ✓ Successfully complete the deep-dive quiz

Module 2: Arc Advanced Management ✅

You have successfully completed Module 2 when you can:

  • ✓ Implement enterprise-scale governance policies across Arc resources
  • ✓ Design cost optimization strategies for hybrid environments
  • ✓ Develop enterprise governance patterns (hub-spoke, federation, zero-trust)
  • ✓ Analyze TCO and ROI for multi-cloud Arc deployments
  • ✓ Successfully complete the advanced quiz

Module 3: Edge RAG Implementation ✅

You have successfully completed Module 3 when you can:

  • ✓ Design production-ready RAG deployment architectures
  • ✓ Optimize LLM inference for edge environments
  • ✓ Select and tune vector databases for enterprise use
  • ✓ Implement RAG deployment patterns and strategies
  • ✓ Monitor and operate RAG systems in production
  • ✓ Successfully complete the implementation quiz

Next Steps

Current Progress

✅ Completed: Modules 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 (All Level 200 modules!)
Duration: 33-48 hours of comprehensive intermediate content
Status: Level 200 is 100% complete with all hands-on labs

Module Roadmap

Module Status Topics Duration Files
Module 1 ✅ Complete Azure Local Architecture, Hardware Planning, HA Patterns, Advanced Networking 6-8 hrs 5
Module 2 ✅ Complete Arc Governance, Cost Optimization, Enterprise Patterns 7-9 hrs 5
Module 3 ✅ Complete RAG Deployment, LLM Optimization, Vector Databases, Operations 8-10 hrs 6
Module 4 ✅ Complete Pre-Sales, Discovery, Sizing, Cost Estimation 5-7 hrs 5
Module 5 ✅ Complete Compliance, GDPR, FedRAMP, Encryption, Security Hardening 6-8 hrs 6
Module 6 ✅ Complete Hands-On Labs (5 progressive labs with Azure Local, Arc, RAG, Policy, Monitoring) 11-16 hrs 6
Level 200 Total ✅ Complete All intermediate topics with practical labs 43-58 hrs 33 files

Success Criteria

Module 4: Pre-Sales & Solution Design ✅

You have successfully completed Module 4 when you can:

  • ✓ Conduct customer discovery and requirements gathering
  • ✓ Analyze competitive positioning and market differentiation
  • ✓ Perform TCO and ROI calculations for sovereign cloud solutions
  • ✓ Design complete customer proposals with business cases
  • ✓ Successfully complete the pre-sales quiz

Module 5: Compliance & Security Patterns ✅

You have successfully completed Module 5 when you can:

  • ✓ Implement GDPR compliance requirements for data processing
  • ✓ Meet FedRAMP compliance for government cloud deployments
  • ✓ Design encryption strategies (at-rest and in-transit)
  • ✓ Manage cryptographic keys with Azure Key Vault
  • ✓ Implement zero-trust security architecture
  • ✓ Design incident response procedures
  • ✓ Successfully complete the compliance quiz

Module 6: Hands-On Labs ✅

You have successfully completed Module 6 when you can:

  • ✓ Deploy and configure Azure Local in connected mode (Lab 1)
  • ✓ Register Kubernetes clusters with Azure Arc (Lab 2)
  • ✓ Implement complete Edge RAG solution (Lab 3)
  • ✓ Enforce governance policies across hybrid infrastructure (Lab 4)
  • ✓ Configure comprehensive monitoring and alerting (Lab 5)
  • ✓ All validation steps passing on 5 labs
  • ✓ Total hands-on experience: 11-16 hours across 5 labs

Last Updated: October 2025

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